This is a list of books I read in 2023 and includes notes, quotes, and a few non-objective reviews. It seems I read mostly fiction this year.
| indicates a children’s book; x indicates an unfinished book
January
The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie. Rachel Linden
A little magic, a lot of reality. Lolly is the one who held the family together after her mother died, when Lolly’s little sister Daphne was about 12, and her father was heartbroken. They owned a restaurant that demanded a lot of attention. Daphne finds Lolly’s 7th grade journal with a list of 5 things she wanted to accomplish in her life. Sadly, she had not accomplished any of them. Along with Lolly, the other main character in the book is Rory Shaw, a neighbor who moved across the street when Lolly was in her early teens. They became close friends, then Lolly developed a crush on him, then fell in love with him. The story centers around Lolly trying to find happiness without Rory. When Lolly’s Aunt Gert offers her 3 magical lemon drops which give her the opportunity to go to a different time in her life, Lolly barely hesitates. The trips into another time give her an understanding of alternatives and consequences of the choices she’s made.
I loved the story. (I like the writing a little less than Sarah Addison Allen’s and Heather Webber’s.)
Aunt Gert: “‘When we make a choice, we necessarily limit all the other choices. Every path narrows our options, every decision closes many other doors. Yet we make a choice hoping we’re trading all the other options for the one that will be the best.’” p. 81-82
x The Old Place. Bobby Finger
The story looked promising; the language appeared in chapter 2.
x The Measure. Nikki Erlick
Every adult receives a box with a string that tells them how long they will live. The subject didn’t appeal. Plus, there was language.
x The Book of Longings. Sue Monk Kidd
The book is about Ana, the wife of Jesus of Nazareth. I couldn’t do it.
The Ascension of Larks. Rachel Linden
Main characters are Maggie, a photographer; Lena, her best friend and roommate from college; and Marco, also a college friend who Maggie loved but who married Lena. As the story opens Maggie is just finishing a photography shoot in Nicaragua when she receives word that Marco drowned. Maggie rushes to their home (really, the only home she’s known since her mother died) to help. In many ways it was a sad story but it drew me in and I kept reading. Well worth it, too.
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle. Jennifer Ryan
Excellent book! The setting is World War II England. This book focuses on the challenges of clothing during WW II. Young women who are about to marry had trouble finding white dresses to wear since clothes were rationed. The characters in this book get together to collect and alter wedding dresses for share with others, almost like a lending library. The characters include
> Grace, engaged to be married to Lawrence, a minister who needs someone to help him run the parish (though there doesn’t seem to be much love involved in the relationship)
> Violet, the daughter who’s determined to marry a duke or higher to keep her family status. At the beginning of the story what matters most to her are gowns, gloves, balls, and alliances with upper-class people.
> Cressida, an independent couturier who was living in London until her home and business were bombed out. She is Violet’s aunt and was more-or-less disowned by her brother Eustace (Violet’s father)
Other characters include Hugh, Grace’s brother, who has inherited the running of their estate; and several other towns people.
I thought the strengths of this novel were showing England during the war, the rations on clothing, and the comradery of townsfolk. Because several of the main characters change their values through the novel, I think it’s a great book to empower young women to carefully choose for themselves instead of allowing themselves to fit into the expected norm of others.
In the Author’s Note at the back of the book she lists books she used as sources for the novel. I couldn’t find any of them at CML.
“...Every path meanders back to the past. Inside, there’s always a different part of us existing in another time and place.... For now, though, you need to make your own decisions....” p. 213 top
“You have to face your fears and make peace with them, or you’ll never stop running from them.” p. 293 ¶2
The Sisters of Sea View. Julie Klassen
This takes place at about the same time as Sanditon and is also set in a seaside town. Characters include sisters Sarah, age about 26; Emily and Viola, twins, age 21; and Georgina is 15; their mom is an invalid as the story opens. There are also various other neighbors and characters. The family is in mourning for husband/father and together, they have to make their own way. They had an estate but upon the father’s death, since there were no sons, the estate went to a male heir. The family opens a guest house in the seaside town of Sidmouth. Viola has no interest or intention of interacting with others because she has a cleft palette and though repaired and not hugely visible, she wears a veil. They decide that her job will be to hire herself out to read to shut-ins. Sarah and Emily take over most of the running of the house, and Georgina helps.
I enjoyed this book though I didn’t love it. Part of the reason for lack of love is the physical format of the book: a really tight spine on the hardback and tiny print. It seems this might be the beginning of a series, On Devonshire Shorts, about this family. Maybe I would read the next one....
February
The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. Annie Lyons
I loved this book! When the story opens, Eudora is 85, single, with no living relatives, and has chosen assisted death in Switzerland. She thinks she’s lived long enough and is done. Stanley, an older widow, finds Eudora after a fall and helps her get an ambulance. Then, new neighbors move into the house next door, including irrepressible,10-year-old, Rose. By 3/4 of the way into the book Eudora was still planning assisted death, so it was touch and go for a while since I’m not in favor of any means of killing one’s self. But the ending was good. It was an absolutely clean book. (Sadly, the library did not have any of her other books, several rated above 4.)
“Human beings are only programmed to judge information based on their own experiences.” p. 157 ¶11
“Everything’s a moment. Nothing lasts forever.” p. 211 ¶1
“Life is precious and as long as we have a reason to continue, we should follow that path.” p. 235 ¶7
“Any man who makes you feel less than you are isn’t worth a jot of your time. . . . The truth is that sometimes even those you’re closest to can let you down. There’s nothing you can do about it.” p. 245 ¶3, 5
Whose Waves These Are. Amanda Dykes
Great book! Ann Bliss corresponds with her great-uncle Robert, who she called Grandbob, through newspaper notices because there was a rift between her father, William, and Bob long before Ann was born. She sees a notice from Grandbob’s friend, Bess, telling Ann to come home (to a small, coastal town in Maine). When she arrives she finds that Grandbob is in the hospital in an induced coma.
We learn that Bob’s twin brother, Roy, was drafted. Bob/Robert wanted to go instead because Roy’s wife was pregnant but Roy refused and died while while rescuing a mother and children in a boat. After his death, Roy’s wife Jenny moved away, taking baby William with her. As a young adult, William returned and had a good relationship with Bob until there was an accident, and he left. The only interaction they had was when Ann’s mother asked Bob to take care of Ann for three months one summer when she was 9 or 10 while both Ann’s parents were deployed. The story is told in the present (2001) and through stories telling the history of Bob and Roy and Bob and William. One of the other main characters is Jeremiah Fletcher, postmaster and general aid to those in the community. The library shelf label notes this as an inspirational book. I appreciated the absence of language, sex, etc.
“...God is not bound by time. He could make as much of a second as He could an eternity.” p. 341 ¶10
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip. Sara Brunsvold
We meet Mrs. Kip as she’s headed into the care center where she will live her last days, having recently been diagnosed with a fast-growing cancer. She is disdainful of the hospital bed and the wheelchair, feeling that she has enough energy to keep going on her own. Aidyn is a news is a rookie news reporter, making mistakes right and left. Knowing Mrs. Kip’s background, her nurse calls an old friend, Bella Woods, who is Aidyn’s boss at the newspaper. Woods sends Aidyn to see Mrs. Kip on the pretense of writing her obituary. But it turns out to be so much more. This is definitely a Christian novel. Mrs. Kip has devoted a good part of her life to serving the Lord by gently bringing them to Him, and it is no different with Aidyn.
“A pained boy with a broken spirit tends to recoil when the hand of grace first finds its wounds.” p. 46 ¶ last
“Hard things usually end in the biggest blessings.” p. 149 ¶2
March
|The First Notes. The Story of Do, Re, Mi. Julie Andrews & Emma Walton Hamilton. Illustrated by Chiara Fedel
What a sweet book about the Benedictine monk, Guido d’Arezzo, who created music notation in the 1000s. The story is clearly and interestingly told and the illustrations are rich and beautiful. At the end are a glossary, to essays, “A Day in the life of a Pomposa Abbey” and “The Guidonian Hand,” plus a historical note on what is known about Guido.
|Special Deliveries. Alexandra Day & Cooper Edens. Illustrated by Alexandra Day
A fun story book about a family of people and animals who take over the mail delivery.
All the Lost Places. Amanda Dykes
There are two time lines: Daniel, a young ex-con in 1904. and Sebastian, a young man who was orphaned as an infant and rescued by a family of siblings in Venice, beginning in 1804. Daniel is trying to make restitution for all the things he’s stolen before he returns to visit his mom. Before he accomplishes that, he is hired to go to Venice to draw the buildings there and to find a particular book. Sadly, at some time in the past, he took a fall and lost his ability to draw what is not in front of his eyes. (Aphantasia!) Sebastian has grown up with four adult siblings with whom he lives, by turns, and learns their trade. Always in his mind is the question, Who am I? Their stories intersect across the century when Daniel is in Venice seeking the complete story for a book that his mother gave him.
The siblings are Elena, the gardener; Valentina, the lacemaker; Dante, the printer; and Guiseppe, the gondolier. Other characters include Vittoria (in Daniel’s time) and Mariana (in Sebastian’s time).
The library categorized this under “inspiration” but I think it should be under fiction.
“‘Courage keep, and hope beget . . . the story is not finished yet.’” p. 68 ¶1 last sentence
“But knowing and picturing were two different things.’ p. 100 ¶6 last sentence
“‘Non c’e nessuno a casa,’ a voice from within rumbled. Nobody was home? The words landed with such dry wit that I [Daniel] immediately liked their speaker. It was something I’d be tempted to say myself, if someone knocked on my own railcar door—but which I probably wouldn’t have the gumption to say. The plight of the polite hermit.”
p. 122 ¶3
“There is no greater myth than that of perfection.” p. 202 ¶6 from the bottom
“The gift of a friend. [for Sebastian]
“Someone who was not tied to him by family but put up with him anyway. And more than put up with him, somehow . . . understood him.” p. 222 ¶2-3
Feed Sacks. The Colorful History of Frugal Fabric. Linzee Kull McCray
I think this book contains everything anyone would want to know about feed sacks, from their origin, fabric, companies, uses, cleaning, etc. It’s filled with photographs–of factories, of people carving the prints, wearing feed sack clothing, of competitions, all kinds of bags, patterns, newspaper clippings, just about everything to do with bags. Many pages have the news clippings against a background of printed feed sacks. About the last third of the book is completely feed sacks, most filling the page, some with a stack of several. The book is a hefty two pounds even though it measures just 6½” x 8". (I weighted and measured it because if it had been larger, the font could have been larger, but perhaps not many people would have wanted to hold it to read it.)
My only complaints about the book are the tiny font size and that there is no index.
Another publication, not readily available, is a publication by the Chase Bag Co. called Bagology.
“Reusing feed sacks was a way to survive, but it also allowed families to thrive. Making use of what they had was not based on assuming some high moral ground; it was simply a way of life. Feed sacks also proved to manufacturers that there was value in products whose reusability was enhanced. These are perspectives worth pondering today.” p. 357, last paragraph
The Hideaway. Lauren K. Denton
When Sara’s grandmother, Mags, dies Sara returns to the town she was so glad to leave 20 years ago. After her parents had both been killed in an auto accident when she was 12, she lived with Mags and some other older people at the Hideaway. Mags wills Sara the Hideaway and asks her to improve it, then do whatever she wants. Mags had been born to wealth and married a man who was unfaithful to her. He left and then Mags left. She ended up at the Hideaway, a bed and breakfast inn. The story’s a bit involved but the essence is that Sara didn’t really know her grandmother other than what she saw from the outside. While having work done on the Hideaway she finds hints of who her grandmother really and what her life had been. This book was in the Inspiration section of the library. I think it must have been mislabeled.
“Maybe I was reminiscing about things so long forgotten they didn’t even matter anymore.” p. 201 ¶2
April
The Great Passion. James Runcie
I loved this book! Mostly. The only parts I didn’t love were Catherina’s collecting butterflies, the gruesome, grizzly execution chapter, and the punitive measures used on some children (which, from what I know of the time period, was common). Stefan is between the ages of 11 and 14. After his mother dies, his father, an organ maker, sends him away to boarding school where Johann Sebastian Bach is the cantor (music leader). Stefan is teased and bullied by the other boys because of his red hair and because he’s the new boy. He runs away and Bach takes him in to live with his family for a while. Stefan becomes a copyist for Bach as well as his student, and plays the organ and sings also. I thought this was a great way to show Bach’s passion for music, his work ethic, and his religious beliefs. I also think musicians would love this book with all the details about music.
Read an interview with the author here: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/advice/how-i-research
“There are gaps of time into which we sometimes fall, when the pattern of our days is suspended. It happens when there is a birth or a death, an arrival or a departure, the moments either side of it becoming forms of descent and recovery, when we do not know quite what to do or how long this unexpected bewilderment will last.” p. 1 ¶1
“We must be grateful for each blessing God gives us rather than nurse every injustice. Unhappiness is a form of ingratitude.” p. 5 ¶2 (near end)
“Obedience is the only way to virtue, and virtue the only path to happiness.” p. 7 ¶6
On mourning: p. 27 ¶3, 5 (Not included here.)
“I know how quickly and superficially our lives can be summed up, and how lazily and carelessly we describe other people. It might be a mixture of physical description, profession and character but, in general, there are only three or four attributes that regularly define us.... I have always found it strange how so few facts define a life.” p. 27 ¶6
“We can always be more than people expect us to be....” p. 41 top
“Now that I am older, I notice that people my age often look back to times of cruelty and betrayal, remembering grudges, nursing grievances and thinking of the opportunities they missed: all the disappointments of their unlived life and the thoughts of what might have been. But perhaps it’s healthier to remember all the kindness. It gives us a far greater chance of happiness.” p. 58 ¶ last
“If a house has enough love, there is always space. It’s only when there’s no love that there’s no room.”
p. 59 ¶1
Speaking of transposing music from major to minor, or change of key, “and everything is different. It is like the bounty of God’s grace, always revealing itself in different ways.” p. 61 ¶5
“....We should keep in mind that if nothing lasts in this world then the very thing that we dread the most cannot last either. All things must pass. The moment we feared approaches. It takes place. Then it becomes the past: and only a memory. So, rather than dreading the moment, perhaps we should look forward to the memory of it instead? We must learn to think beyond our fears.” p. 131 ¶5
Nagel, the teacher: “When I was your age, my father taught me how important it was to find something to celebrate each day. It didn’t matter how small it was, or how long it lasted, but each simple pleasure needs to be marked. It can be something as honest and straightforward as the sight of the first hawthorn blossom or the light on the path ahead through summer trees.... It can be the smile of a friend who is pleased to see you or the silence at the end of a piece of music; as long as it is something precious and private to store up and treasure by nightfall. They are moments of grace. My father called them ‘amulets of time.’” p. 133 ¶4
Bach likens music keys to people and their personalities: p. 135 ¶5-6, p. 135 top
B flat major: cheerful, loving, filled with hope and aspiration
B major: emotion and impetuosity and passion
D sharp minor: all gloom and anxiety, despite the hope of heaven
B minor: patience
“How would you learn anything if was easy?” p. 171 top
"Nothing is hard if you practice.... With time and proper application you can achieve anything.” p. 209 ¶13
Bach, to a man in mourning: “If we flee from our troubles, they continue to haunt us with their return. If we address them directly, then we can start to live again.” p. 229 ¶12
Catharina after her father’s death: “There’s an inventory for you. It’s strange to see a life summed up by possessions alone.” p. 255 ¶6
These Tangled Vines. Julianne Maclean
Fiona Bell learned at age 18, just before her mother died, that the man Fiona thought was her father is not. Her mother asked her to keep it a secret because her father didn’t know. And at age 30, as the story opens, Fiona receives a call from an attorney in London telling her that her father died and she is named in the will. He asks her to come to Tuscany for the reading of the will. Fiona knows nothing about her birth father, not even his name. She makes arrangements to fly, and arrives to a hornet’s nest of complications, at least as regards her half-brother and -sister, their mother, and her father’s current girlfriend.
I had mixed reactions to this book. Fiona’s mother, Lillian, suggests in the early days of their life together, that she and her husband, Freddie, travel to France so he can finish a novel he’s writing. Lillian immediately finds a job at a winery where the owner, Anton, offers them a guest suite at no charge and the use of a car. Freddie takes off to Paris, leaving Lillian behind, rarely contacting her during the weeks he’s there. Freddie seems to be self-focused without regard for Lillian or her feelings. Lillian and Anton fall in love and have an affair. Wrong choice, of course! Lillian makes the decision to divorce Freddie, then he surprises Lillian by being there when she returns from work. Freddie finds them, then goes after Anton, attacks him, then runs away. Anton is driving away and, in the twists and turns of the road, hits Freddie, who ends up paralyzed. Lillian goes with Freddie but Anton helps support them (without Freddie’s knowledge) and Lillian and Anton write one letter a year. Tangled vines, for sure. But Fiona is really good-hearted, and there is no language.
May
A Cup of Silver Linings. Karen Hawkins
This has a little light fantasy in it. The main characters are Kristen, 16, whose mother Julie just died; Ellen, Kristen’s grandmother who was estranged from Julie; Ava Dove, maker of specialty teas with sometimes magical abilities; and Sarah Dove, Ava’s younger sister, who has conversations with books. There are other characters, but these are the main ones. Kristen is determined to stay in Dove Pond, and her grandmother, an architect, is just as determined that she move to Raleigh. I guess one of my main complaints about this book was the occasional use of Heavenly Father’s name throughout the book.
“It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.” p. 173 near end of page
xAtlas of the Heart. Brene Brown
This was good but I didn’t love it. First, there was no index; second, there were no footnotes. She groups emotions, so without an index it’s hard to find the emotion you’re looking for. I stopped reading on about p. 206 (or 207)–probably at “Happiness.”
My notes tell me I was going to copy quotes:
p. 7 ¶4; p. 58 last quote on awe and wonder; p. 88; p. 158 ¶5, 6; p. 191 abt. trust/mistrust, tip on p. 192; p. ¶96 ¶2 about defensiveness
The White Lady. Jacqueline Winspear
This spans WWI when Eleanor DeWitt was a young teen, through WWII when she was in her early 30s, into 1947. I thought it was good. A mystery, a war story of the resistance, and a story about the mental casualties of war.
Beneficence. Meredith Hall
The writing was beautiful but I did not like the story. It begins in the late 1940s, telling the story of a farm family, Tup and Doris Senter and their children: Sonny, about 12-14; Dodie, about 10; and Beston, maybe about 5. They are a happy, contented family until a tragedy happens. We learn, bit by bit, that the children were playing with a toy gun in their living room and Sonny is killed. Tup, Doris, and Dodie all blame themselves for this tragedy, but none mentions that to the others. Doris goes into a deep depression that lasts many years. Tup carries on, for a time, doing the best he can. Dodie takes over her mother’s work of the farm and raising Beston. All are hurt by this tragedy. But Tup makes it worse when he takes on a night job and begins to spend the nights with his widowed boss. He returns in the mornings, works the farm, eats dinner with his family, then leaves to spend nights with the boss. And then she has a baby, which Tup is not interested in. He tells himself that she doesn’t expect anything of him and he doesn’t expect anything of her. I do not have much respect for Tup: not only did he have an affair, he also cursed at his children on occasion. Maybe the worst thing is that Tup thinks of himself as an honorable man! Their relationships are mostly resolved at the end but I really didn’t like this book much.
“Once gained, we can never turn from knowledge and its burdens. P. 59 ¶4
June
Yours Is the Night. Amanda Dykes
This was another default read. When I reserved it I didn’t realize it was set during WW I, but never got around to returning it. Other reserves came in but were peppered with either language or sex until this was the only one left. So I started it. WW I, yes, but there are only a few war pages. The rest involves three soldiers (well, one is a chaplain) who set off with a young woman to return her to her home. Characters include Matthew Petticrew; Henry Mueller/Hank Jones, a reporter; George Piccadilly, the chaplain; and Captain Jasper Truett, all in or with the military; and Mireilles/Mira. There are other minor characters, too.... The story is essentially the journey from Mira’s home in the Argonne Forest to Paris, plus some battle scenes, and some history before that story begins. It was good. It seemed really long, but there was no language or sex.
Beyond That, the Sea. Laura Spence-Ash
Beatrix Thompson is 11 when she is sent to America in 1940 because her parents, Millie and Reginald, want to keep her safe from the war. She lives in Boston with Ethan and Nancy Gregory and their two sons, William and Gerald, two years on either side of her age, and they spend the summers in Maine on an island Nancy inherited from her parents. She is adopted and fits perfectly with the family. In many ways I loved this book. It brought home what it might have been like for a child living away from home during the war—the challenges of adjusting and the after-affects as the child grows older. The book continues through Beatrix’s 30s and ends with a brief section in 1977. It was a bit slow in the middle and I did not like the occasional, rare swearing.
“When you look back, it’s so easy to see that path that you’ve traveled. But looking forward, there are only dreams and fears.” P. 333 ¶3
After someone’s gone, “Regret, she has found, is the loud thing that’s left.” p. 333 ¶4
“We love people for all sorts of different reasons and in all sorts of different ways, she says. Remember that. And it only gets better, the older you get. Young love isn’t necessarily the best love.” p, 335 ¶ last
Well-Read Women: Portraits of Fiction’s Most Beloved Heroines. Samantha Hahn
Hahn as created water-color paintings of women from famous books as she imagines they would have looked, and she’s included a quote for each of them that, to some extent, defines their character. Beautiful.
xThe Wishing Game. Meg Shaffer unfinished ~p. 25
I liked the premise (a young teacher’s assistant wants to adopt a boy) but I did not like the language.
The Museum of Ordinary People. Mike Gayle
I loved it! As the story opens, Jess Baxter is living with Guy (somebody or other), happily, sort of, in his modern apartment. Jess’s mom died about a year ago and she’s selling her mom’s house. She got rid of most everything but for sentimental reasons she saved the set of encyclopedias her mom gave her when she was young. Guy is getting ready to sell his apartment so he and Jess can buy a home together (using the money from the sale of Jess’s mom’s house). Guy doesn’t want the encyclopedias in the apartment, so Jess is in the situation of either dumping them or finding somewhere else to put them. She discovers “The Museum of Ordinary People” and takes them there. The new owner knows nothing about the museum, but the old owner’s employees do. And the story goes on from there. No language, no sex, the only thing was Jess and Guy living together.
“All I’d been hoping to do was draw a line under my grief, to shake the feeling of exhaustion that had been with me all year. Because that’s the thing about grief no one ever tells you: it’s greedy.... It eats up every last scrap of energy you have, leaving you spent and empty.” p. 12 ¶7
“...Intention only ever turns into action when given a bit of a push.” p. 183 ¶1
July
All the Days of Summer. Nancy Thayer
I didn’t know where this book was going when I began.... There are several main characters: Heather, in her mid- to late-40s, divorcing her husband; Ross, her son, who just graduated from college; and Kailee, his girlfriend, who also just graduated. Heather rents a cottage on Nantucket Island, only to learn that Ross and Kailee are moving there to work in her father’s construction business. Other characters include Kailee’s parents, Bob and Evelyn; Miles, divorced man interested in Heather; and a few others.
I wasn’t thrilled about the out-of-wedlock intimacy and eventual pregnancy and then especially not reading Kailee suggesting that it wasn’t a baby, just a bunch of cells and they didn’t have to have a baby. There was also occasional language. I guess the morals and values of this story were much different than mine. On the other hand, I liked Heather and Ross.
Foster. Claire Keegan
Ireland in maybe the late 1950s or 1960s. The story is told first person by a little girl–we don’t know her age, or the year. Her father takes her to stay with a couple she doesn’t know though it seems to me that the wife of the couple may be a sister to the little girl’s mother. She doesn’t know how long she’ll be there but settles in to the warmth and caring of this gentle, loving couple who help her blossom. Then she learns that they lost a little boy, but that’s never mentioned by the couple or by her. It seems that the girl is there for perhaps a summer, then learns that she is to return home. What a sadness for her!
“‘Where there’s a secret,’ she says, ‘there’s shame – and shame is something we can do without.’” p. 19 ¶6
“Everything changes into something else, turns into some version of what it was before.” p. 25 top
“‘You don’t ever have to say anything,’ he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.’” p. 64 top-p. 65
The wife suggests the man take a lantern for a night walk. He doesn’t find it necessary but takes it anyway, and needs it.
“‘Ah, the women are nearly always right, all the same,’ he says. ‘Do you know what the women have a gift for?’
“‘What?’
“‘Eventualities. A good woman can look far down the line and smell what’s coming before a man even gets a sniff of it.’” p. 66 ¶2-4
Love Has No Age Limit: Welcoming an Adopted Dog into Your Home. Patricia B. McConnell, Karen B. London
The only parts of this book that I skipped were the ones that didn’t apply to Persi/Nona, which were most of the behavior problem chapters.
xCassandra in Reverse. Holly Smale
I was looking forward to this book about a character with autism, written by an author with autism. Unfortunately, there was language.
xWeyward. Emilia Hart
This book is a little dark – three women, same family line, in 1619, 1942, and the present. It seems that abuse at one level or another figures in all three lives. There’s also a little magic, or mystery, or herbal healing, at least in the case of the woman in 1619. I would have continued reading to learn their whole stories except for the language of the woman in the present.
|I Like Airedale Terriers. Linda Bozzo
Written for children, it covers the basics about Airedales, mostly accurately. Most 2-page spreads have a full-page photo on one side with large-print information on the other. Definitely an entry-level intro to Airedales.
Dreams of Falling. Karen White
It was refreshing to read an absolutely clean book: no language, no sex, no violence. And it was a great story, too. The main characters are good friends, Margaret (who died in 1954), Ceecee, and Bitty, from about 1950 to 2010; Ivy, in a coma. Larkin is Ivy's daughter, about 27 in 2010, but Ceecee and Bitty "adopted" her. Other characters are Mabry and Bennett, twins who were Larkin’s childhood friends. Larkin left her hometown after she graduated from high school due to some event that she remembers as embarrassing/stupid and has returned only for an occasional holiday. When she learns that her mother had a fall and is in a coma, she returns home. She has to deal with her past, and also the past of her grandmother, Ceecee, and Bitty. Secrets unravel during the time she’s there.
“But like Ceecee has tried to tell me a million times, there are no do-overs in life. . . . Ceecee told me to wait to get married, to be sure. Not about how much I loved him, but how much I could bear to lose. She said it’s the sadness that either breaks a person or makes them stronger.” p. 90 ¶3
“It’s about being okay with not being the best, because there are a million and one things out there to try until I do find the thing that I’m good at and that makes me happy. We just need people in our lives who let us be brave enough to try.” p. 384 ¶7
“Throughout our lives we are all falling. Falling down, falling out, falling away. Falling in love. The trick is finding someone to catch us. And sometimes we surprise ourselves by finding out that person is us.”
p. last, ¶ last
August
The Secret Book of Flora Lea. Patti Callahan Henry
In 1939, two sisters, Hazel, 14, and Flora, 4, are sent from London to live in Oxford to be safe from the bombings in London. They are taken in by Bridget, Bridie for short, and her son Harry. Hazel makes up stories to occupy Flora, stories of an imaginary place called Whisperwood. Hazel tells her not to tell anyone about the stories because they are just for them. Things go well until one afternoon when the three are on a picnic. Flora falls asleep and Hazel runs to a large tree for privacy. Harry follows her, and when they return Flora is gone. Twenty years later, Whisperwood becomes a published book. When the original drawings and manuscript turn up in the rare book shop where Hazel works, she makes one more effort to try to find Flo/r/a.
I thought the story was great with surprising twists and turns in the search for Flora that kept me reading. There were a few occasional uses of some language that is common now but that I don’t think would have been common in 1960. Also, Hazel and her boyfriend, Barnaby, are living together in 1960, something I think was rare at that time.
“A choice to make? Therein was freedom, she thought, the ability to make a choice she never thought she’d have the opportunity to make. But she had to be careful. Freedom, for all its claims of wonder, also had its price.” p. 327 ¶ last
Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly. Marie Bostwick
I really liked this book. Esme’s childhood was not easy, and then she moved in with her grandparents, George and Adele, and things went better. By the time she was 14 or so, she had her life planned out. She left when she was 18 so she wouldn’t have to see her mother again. She works in NYC as an editor, until she loses her job. She moves back to her grandparents’ home after the death of her grandmother, and helps to renovate their lakeside retreat. Esme has gumption, determination, and a good head on her shoulders.
“... Over the years I had learned that the best way to tackle any problem is to ignore personalities, check your emotions at the door, and focus on facts.” p, 65 ¶4
“When it comes to our lives, the absolute truth is less important than the truth we absolutely believe. For good or for ill, what we believe about ourselves is what shapes our life, our future, our legacy; that is our story.” P. 155 ¶ next to last
“It suddenly occurred to me that names are like words, possessing no inherent meaning in and of themselves, and easily forgotten. It’s action alone that makes the lasting mark, and things we do or create that reveal what we believe and care about, that testify to our presence long after we’ve gone.” p. 251 ¶ last
“Anything worth doing takes longer than you think. Mistakes are a gift, the way we discover what actually works. You probably won’t believe it until you’re older but starting over serves its purpose. As long as you learn, no lesson is ever a waste.” p, 324 ¶4
“Everything worthwhile takes longer than you think...
“You can work hard, and you should. Because even the most spectacular failure serves its purpose, setting you up for the success to come. And as long as you learn, no lesson is [ever] a waste. But the stuff that really matters tends to come with a built-in timeline that’s usually a secret and almost always different than yours.”
p. 355 ¶ beginning next to last
Rules for a Knight: The Last Letter of Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawke. Ethan Hawke
The night before Knight Thomas Hawke goes into battle in 1483, he writes a letter to his children to give them rules to live by. Each rule is brief , has a small pencil drawing on the adjacent page, and is followed by more details, a memory, a story, an experience, etc. I thought this was beautifully written. The rules include solitude, humility, gratitude, cooperation, friendship, forgiveness, honesty, courage, grace, patience, justice, generosity, discipline, dedication, speech, faith, equality, love, and death.
“Humility. Never announce that you are a knight, simply behave as one. You are better than no one, and no one is better than you.” p. 17
“Pride. Never pretend you are not a knight or attempt to diminish yourself because you deem it will make others more comfortable. We show others the most respect by offering the best of ourselves.” p. 29
“...he learned the secret of performing under pressure: don’t do it for yourself. Do it for someone else.... When I get scared I just think of someone I love.” p. 67 ¶2-3
There are too many gems to copy them all.... Definitely worth a reread. It’s a small book, perhaps 4" x 6" with 169 pages.
At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities. Heather Webber
This was fun, quick read–magical realism. Ava receives an envelope that contains an advertisement for a job several states away. She picks up stakes and moves to Driftwood, Alabama, not knowing anyone or even whether she’ll get the job. She has epilepsy, which is currently in remission, and has been protected and prevented from doing the normal things by her mother. She’s ready to try her wings, so to speak. Maggie manages Magpie’s, the coffee shop in Driftwood. She is in her late 30s, the mother of a college-aged son, and is still single. She mother was lost at sea when Maggie was about 12. She still hopes that her mom reappears. Other characters include Donovan, Estrelle, Dez/Desmond (Maggie’s father), and Sam and his dog Norman. There are many other characters that play small parts. It seems like we meet half the small town citizens.
The Bookbinder. Pip Williams
This books take place just after The Dictionary of Lost Words. The setting is also in Oxford, England, but from 1914-1920, and in this story, Peggy Jones and her twin Maude, work in the bindery. Their mother died a number of years ago and Peggy takes on the care of Maude, who is differently-abled—competent in many ways but not in others. We read of them folding folios and of Peggy stitching bindings, but Peg wants more. After the war started, she sat with injured soldiers, reading to them, writing letters, etc., and begins to see Bastiaan outside of her visits to the hospital. Then Peggy has the opportunity to apply to Somerville, the women’s side of Oxford, and studies to prepare....
Themes in this book include the equality for women, suffrage for women, and the care of a special needs person.
“If you shrink yourself to the smallness of your circumstances, you’ll soon disappear.” p. 219 ¶1
September
The Door-to-Door Bookstore. Carsten Hen
Great book! Carl Kollhoff’s current job is delivering book orders to clients. He wraps them in brown paper, then walks to deliver them. He is a well-read man who knows books and characters in books. Unbeknownst to them, he has given literary names to the people to whom he delivers books: Hercules, Darcy, Mrs. Longstocking. Then one day, 9-year-old Schascha appears and begins walking with him. He’s not exactly pleased but she grows on him.
This book is focused on the characters in the book to the exclusion of things like surroundings, activities, views of the city, etc. There were a few incidences of language later in the book because one person was angry but the rest of the book was clean in all ways.
“Sometimes his mouth just went ahead and said things without consulting his head.” p. 32 top
“Some families show their love with food—an extra thick layer of butter on your bread, or a second slice of wurst on top. Others hold each other close and often, sharing warmth to keep the cold of the outside world at bay. For generations, my family have shown their love through books.” p. 68 ¶2
“Even when an ordinary book ends at precisely the right point, with precisely the right words, and anything further would only destroy that perfection, it still leaves us wanting more pages. That is the paradox of reading. P. 135 ¶5
The Sound of Glass. Karen White
Excellent! Merritt learns that she’s inherited her deceased husband Cal’s grandmother Edith’s home in South Carolina. She picks up and moves, knowing nothing about Cal’s background and no one in South Carolina. The attorney helps her and she meets her husband’s brother, Gibbes, about 9 years younger than Cal. Then her step-mother Loralee and her son (and Merrit’s half brother) 10-year-old Owen arrive. Merritt just wants to be alone but gives in to letting Loralee and Owen stay with her. Merritt has a lot of recovering to do after Cal’s abuse and Loralee is just the person to help. And so is Gibbes. No language, no sex, no violence. Loralee keeps a journal with gems of knowledge, some passed on from her mother, others that she’s learned herself. Despite how good they were, I didn’t note down any of them....
xThe Echo of Old Books. Barbara Davis
I think I would have enjoyed this book but every other chapter is part of a book within the book and is in italics. Why don’t publishers get it that italics looks smaller than a regular font size and is very hard to read?
I tried this book again on audio but the male reader for the book within the book, Regretting Belle, had a low, quiet voice that was hard to hear. I liked Ashlyn but not the character reading Regretting Belle. Twice unfinished!
The House on Tradd Street. Karen White (Tradd Street #1)
Realtor Melanie Middleton hates old houses even though her job as a realtor in Charleston, S.C., is to sell homes of all ages. One of Melanie’s gifts is being able to see the spirits of people who have died. She has an appointment with an elderly gentleman, Nevin Vanderhorst, which she assumes is to arrange the sale of his 150-year-old home. While viewing the gardens, she sees the spirit of a woman near a swing. She visits with Nevin, answers his questions, but they never get to any discussion of the sale of the home before she is ushered out. Several days later she is asked to visit an attorney’s office early one morning where she learns that she has inherited all of Vanderhorst’s property. She must live in it one year, improve it, and can sell it after that first year. There are several mysteries to be solved, several spirits who visit the house, and other living characters including her friend Sophie, a client Chad, two other men, author Jack Trenholm and Marc Longo. I enjoyed it enough to read the next in the series.
October
The Girl on Legare Street. Karen White (Tradd Street #2)
A little fantasy, a lot ghost story. Melanie Middleton’s mom, Ginette, buys back the house on Legare Street where she grew up and Melanie lived for a number of years when she was a child. Melanie stays there with her mom (estranged mom) while the floors in her Tradd Street house are being refinished. The house has a protector spirit and an evil spirit. And there’s a mystery to be solved which requires Melanie and her mom to join forces. There’s a bit of family history involved in this story, too. And, of course, there’s Jack who Melanie does her best to avoid despite being attracted to him.
Says journalist Rebecca Edgerton, “‘The information you need is always there if you’re willing to be persistent and look hard enough.’” How I wish that were true in family history!
|We Are Starlings: Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration. Robert Furrow, Donna Jo Napoli. Illustrated by Marc Martin
I thought this would be fabulous but it was only good, though the illustrations were fabulous. It was told from the view of a starling, flying with its allies, swerving and veering to get away from a peregrine falcon, then dancing, and finally coming to rest.
November
The Strangers on Montague Street. Karen White (Tradd Street #3)
This continues the story of Melanie Middleton, her parents, and Jack. Melanie and her mom both see ghosts so it is, I guess, a ghost story. There’s a bit of a mystery in this book, too, plus Jack’s 12-year-old daughter, Nola/Emmaline, is in this one. There’s a dollhouse with dolls who get dashed, and Nola’s deceased mom, Bonnie, is part of the story. Plenty of other characters, too.... Still hoping that Melanie and Jack will get together. I was a little disappointed that there was some sex in this book but the language was mostly clean.
Chance Encounters. Temporary Street Art by David Zinn. David Zinn
Chalk drawings become sidewalk art. Zinn often creates his drawings around cracks, manhole covers, draine covers, and other smaller metal pieces in sidewalks, though he also uses grass in cracks, leaves on the sidewalk, etc. His characters are adorable and his titles/descriptions add another touch of humor. He discusses his early artistic endeavors in his family as a child, and then goes on to tell the briefest biography of his artistic endeavors. It’s amazing that he can see two dots which become eyes in one of his chalk drawings, or see a smile in a crack in the sidewalk.
“Pareidolia is our psychological habit of perceiving patterns in the world around us even when our common sense tells us no such pattern exists.” [This was a new word to me, though something I often do.] p. 11
xTom Lake. Ann Patchett
So many people have praised this so highly that I finally reserved it. As an adult Lara tells her three daughters her experiences in acting, beginning in high school. I wasn’t much interested in the topic, and then there was language....
Return to Tradd Street. Karen White (Tradd Street #4)
The continuing story of Melanie and Jack, and the Tradd Street house Melanie inherited from the Nevin Vanderhorst in the first book. Melanie is pregnant and planning to raise the baby alone but doesn’t seem to have a clue about pregnancy and delivery. She refused Jack’s marriage proposal because she thinks he’s doing it for the sake or responsibility, not the sake of the baby. The remains of a newborn is found in the foundation of the house (that is being restored), and then she hears the cries of a baby and a female ghost who tells her, “Mine.” Always a mystery, always a ghost or a few, and always Jack.
Melanie’s mom, Ginette, on marriage: “If you wait until everything’s perfect, until all your differences have been settled and all the stars have aligned just right, then you miss your chance at happiness. That’s what real and enduring love is. It’s being able to see past the disagreements so what’s left is the knowledge that you’ll never be complete without the other person. P. 208 ¶3
December
The Guests on South Battery. Karen White (Tradd Street #5)
Melanie returns to work as a realtor after maternity leave and is met with a young woman, Jayne Smith, who inherited one of the old homes in the area. Jayne has no idea why Button Pinckney, Melanie’s mother Ginette’s childhood friend, would choose her to inherit the home. Jayne wants nothing to do with it. Like Melanie, she doesn’t like old homes. In fact, she doesn’t to go inside the house. Melanie recognizes soon that there are ghosts, one of which does not want her or Jayne or Ginette there. A ghost story, a mystery, a romance....
|In the Dark. Kate Hoefler. Illustrated by Corinna Luyken
This is a picture book with a story told by two different people and two different perspectives. To differentiate, one voice is in italics, the other in regular letters. The setting is the woods at night where it’s hard to see exactly what’s happening. The essence of the story is that what you see may not be the real story— we put our own spin on things sometimes. What you think may not be accurate. On the back of the book: “What do you choose to see?”
|The Book of Mistakes. Corinna Luyken
A drawing, with a mistake. The narrator identifies the mistake, and the next mistake, and the next, along with the additions and changes to the drawing of a girl. Then points out what wasn’t a mistake. More mistakes, more non-mistakes, edits to the mistakes to make them fit in, and the drawing evolves of a girl and part of her environment. The illustrations are mostly black and white (probably pen and ink) with some parts in color.
I love the last sentence: “Do you see now who she could be?” I love the message that mistakes can sometimes be edited to enlarge, enlighten, inform, and the subtle message that through mistakes we learn and grow.
The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street. Karen White (Tradd Street #6)
Melanie and Jack have toddler twins, Sarah and JJ, but they also have a cistern in the backyard that is being excavated by Melanie’s best friend, Sophie, and her students. And, of course, there are spirits and mysteries to be solved. There’s a woman named Eliza, who appears to have committed suicide by hanging, a Revolutionary War soldier, and two Vanderhorst men. And, of course, there’s the challenge of trust between self-reliant Melanie and Jack. There’s also Marc Longo who is intent on having whatever he wants. Lots of twists and turns in this one.
|The Baby Tree. Sophie Blackall
A cute story about where babies come from. The little boy’s parents tell him a baby is coming. He asks the teen he walks to school with and she tells them they grow on trees. Others offer various ways babies arrive. Finally he asks his parents and gets the correct answer. Very appropriate for a young child.
The Attic on Queen Street. Karen White (Tradd Street #7)
This time there’s a frozen Charlotte in a tiny casket, buttons from charm strings, and a heart-shaped pillow. As the book opens, Jack and Melanie are separated but when Marc Longo’s film crew descends on the house, Jack moves back in (sleeping in the guest room) to keep watch over the house to prevent Marc from snooping for the treasures he believes are still there. Ghosts include a young girl from Civil War times and Adrienne, the sister of a woman Melanie knew in college, among others not named. Adrienne’s murder has been unsolved for 20 or more years. Other living characters include Jack and Melanie’s children Nola, and twins JJ and Sarah; Jayne, Melanie’s sister; Melanie’s and Jack’s parents; Thomas Riley the detective; Rebecca, Melanie’s distance cousin; Suzy Dorf, the reporter; and various others. I thought it was a satisfying ending for the series. It was ghost story, mystery, family history, and romance all rolled into one.
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